IMAGE NOT HELPING BASEBALL MAKE IT BIG ON LITTLE SCREEN

Steve NidetzCHICAGO TRIBUNE

ESPN begins its fourth-and what could be final-year of almost nightly baseball telecasts Monday. The cable network already has announced it is backing off an option to renew the current contract for two years.

The whole image of baseball has soured over the last year, with White Sox Vice Chairman Eddie Einhorn, who's also a member of Major League Baseball's TV committee, going so far as to say the fans "don't like our players."

"I blame the owners for some of that," says Miller. "I don't think there's any other credible business that's trying to sell a product that knocks its own product as openly and as often as baseball does. If there's a feeling in the advertising community that baseball players don't have as high a recognition factor as the Michael Jordans of the world, maybe the owners should ask themselves what have we done to create that and what can we do to create that visibility? Maybe we're not marketing ourselves properly.

"Instead of knocking their own product, maybe they should look inward and look for a better way of doing what they're doing. Obviously, they're not doing it right."

Miller, who also spends his weeks covering the Baltimore Orioles, says the Sox, for instance, should be doing a better job marketing Frank Thomas, "one of the greatest young talents to come along in 30 or 40 years. Thomas has put up numbers no one has since the days of Ted Williams. How come we don't hear more about Frank Thomas on a national basis?"

Miller claims a lot of the gloom-and-doom talk is overstated, noting that the sport experienced its second-highest attendance mark in history. "Yet the owners seem to lead the parade that all is not well," he said. "If all is not well, fans would not have bought so many tickets last year. Famous teams with charisma and national followings all were bad at the same time and they still had the second-highest attendance in history. It speaks well for the health of the game."

Chris Berman, who will do ESPN's Monday afternoon opener with new partner Buck Martinez before they move into their regular Wednesday night slot, blames baseball's tenuous labor situation for the problems.

"Part of it has to do with embracing each other," says Berman, "which may or may not ever happen. In pro football, you have the start of a brave new era. Pro football is facing kind of the same thing-you know who a lot of their players are, but when you have the helmets and the shoulder pads, very few are known like Michael Jordan. But now there is labor peace.

"Baseball players and owners have to grow up a little bit. They have to embrace each other to understand the full picture. It all comes down to the big picture. Because there are a lot of likable players out there."

- ESPN uses an intro on the state of baseball written by Peter Gammons and narrated by Tom Selleck for its opening on Monday's games (1 p.m., Dodgers at Marlins; 6:30 p.m., Phillies at Astros).

- Ex-Cub Greg Maddux makes his Braves debut Monday at Wrigley Field. The Atlanta organization, however, doesn't expect much negative reaction because "the Braves are more interested in the Braves than they are in the Cubs and the reaction of the Cubs fans," says TBS broadcaster Skip Caray.

Maddux has made a smooth transition to his new team, says Braves broadcaster Pete Van Wieren, because "he's very similar in personality to Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and that whole group. They're very close. He's a very welcome addition to the staff, not only because of his ability but because of his personality."

- It's a family affair: Chip Caray, the third generation of the baseball broadcasting famly, has moved to the Seattle Mariners' booth from Atlanta. He's been replaced on the Braves' regional cable outlet, SportsSouth, by Ernie Johnson Jr., who now joins dad, Ernie Sr., on the telecasts.

- WTTW-Ch. 11 will open the baseball season in its own way-with two specials of local interest Tuesday night. The first, at 9 p.m., is "Frontline: The Trouble with Baseball," examining the battle over money through the eyes of catcher Carlton Fisk and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf. "If the mega-salaries are, in that sense, just another statistic to be kept in a game that thrives on statistics," says producer Michael Kirk, "then the American pastime has moved from a game of inches to a game of dollars and cents where the true winners aren't found in the box scores." . . . On a contrasting note, at 10 p.m., Channel 11 replays "Veeck: A Man for Any Season," a loving tribute to former White Sox owner Bill Veeck, who brought more vitality than money to baseball. It was produced and directed by Jamie Ceaser and Tom Weinberg. . . . "Outside the Lines: Days of Madness," a look at this year's NCAA Final Four weekend hosted by Bob Ley, airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN.

- Final Four thoughts: Another well-packed production, from the broadcast team of Jim Nantz and Billy Packer, particularly Packer pointing out Jamal Mashburn's last foul ended Kentucky's chances of beating Michigan, to the production team of Bob Dekas and Bob Fishman. It's just unfortunate time constraints forced the telecast into a panic close, cutting short postgame interviews with Michigan coach Steve Fisher and his players. . . . Where, you might ask, was CBS studio analyst Mike Francesa? According to CBS exec Rick Gentile, Francesa declined the offer of a sideline reporter role at New Orleans. Ex-Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps also was dropped. . . . Best dance move: Georgetown coach John Thompson sidestepping the "trash-talking" issue when asked to comment by co-host James Brown during CBS' NCAA Final Four pregame show. . . . Worst move: WBBM-Ch. 2 interrupting the final seconds of regulation in the Iowa-Ohio State NCAA women's semifinal to report a shooting on Howard Street. . . . And does anyone understand Coca-Cola's new TV spots?

- Saddest sight: The truck carrying Alan Kulwicki's car taking the checkered flag at the Bristol (Tenn.) International Raceway after Kulwicki died in a plane crash the night before, part of ESPN's tribute to the driver prior to Sunday's NASCAR race.